


Shadows

by skyeofskynet



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Other, Post-Children of Earth (Season 3)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-06
Updated: 2011-02-06
Packaged: 2017-10-15 11:33:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/160414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyeofskynet/pseuds/skyeofskynet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>‘There’s something moving in the dark. And it’s coming, Jack Harkness, it’s coming for you.’</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shadows

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Cienie](https://archiveofourown.org/works/160392) by [skyeofskynet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyeofskynet/pseuds/skyeofskynet). 



> The afterworld in Whoniverse.  
> Originally written in Polish, during way too long train trip. Translated by Idril.  
> 

_‘In between the two separate worlds, we've got the Void.’ […]  
‘What's the Void?’  
‘The dead space. Some people call it Hell.’_  
Doctor Who, Doomsday

 _‘There’s something moving in the dark. And it’s coming, Jack Harkness, it’s coming for you.’_  
Torchwood, They Keep Killing Suzie

 _We grow accustomed to the Dark_  
Emily Dickinson

 

Something is moving in the dark.

He can notice them only out of the corner of his eye, spots that are slightly brighter than the darkness surrounding him, but then he takes a deep breath and he can see the light. (Most of the time.)

The darkness around him is solid like a wall, or maybe like stale air, sultry and thick. Whatever lives in the dark keeps its distance until the day when it comes to stand right before his eyes — an echo, a shadow.

“Hi, Jack,” says a shadow that looks like Suzie.

“What the fuck is—“

 

(Inhale.)

 

“You could’ve been nicer, you know?” the shadow-Suzie says the next time. “But then again, death could’ve been nicer, too. You’re lucky, Jack.”

“You’re not real.”

“And yet you just can’t get rid of me, now, can you?” There’s a shadow of a smile on the shadow-Suzie’s face.

 

(Inhale.)

 

The third time she’s less blurry.

“You’re not an easy man to find,” she says, as if trying to apologise for her absence the last time he was there. He wouldn’t be honest if he said he missed her. He doesn’t think she missed him either.

“You’re lucky, Jack,” Suzie repeats, running a hand through her hair. There’s no sign of the gunshot wound in her head but there are bullet holes in her coat, or maybe it’s just an illusion, since Jack can’t see any blood.

“You don’t have to stay here.”

 

(Inhale.)

 

Suzie kneels in front of him and tilts her head slightly, with her hands propped on her knees, her fingers interlaced.

“I found them. All of them,” she says. “First there was Tosh, she was so scared, poor little thing. She was roaming in the darkness, trying to catch their attention but they couldn’t see her the way I could. And then there was Owen. He was screaming. I heard him.”

Suzie smiles, but maybe it’s just an illusion, shadows dancing across her face.

“I had quite a laugh, hearing him scream like that. But he came back, just like me. I was screaming then, too, you know? Screaming until my throat was raw.”

She turns her head around and Jack tries to see whatever she’s seeing, but there’s nothing, just the dark.

“It doesn’t matter that you scream when there’s no one who can hear you. I made it matter. That’s good, don’t you think, Jack?”

“That’s mad.”

Suzie bursts into laughter. There’s no echo.

“I died mad.” She leans over, her eyebrows, raised, and suddenly her face is right next to his temple. “Ianto didn’t scream. He just said that he came here with you. And then… puff.” She smiles. “Inhale, Jack.”

 

(Inhale.)

 

“I gathered up the whole team, we’re together now. I think you should thank me, Jack.”

Her voice is the only thing he can hear; it sounds as if it was coming from afar, even though Suzie stands right next to him.

“I wanted to take them with me, but they wouldn’t go. They don’t trust me. I wonder why.” Suzie comes closer and stops just right out of Jack’s reach. “Oh, of course, Ianto wanted to come. But it was too soon. Or maybe not? Time flows differently here.”

 

(Inhale.)

 

“Or maybe there's no time in the first place,” she says when they meet again, as if she weren’t interrupted at all. “I haven’t quite made my mind yet.”

“Make sure to give me a call when you do,” Jack says, reaching his hand out to her for help, but Suzie ignores him. He stands up on his own, brushing the nonexistent dust off his coat. He can’t see his feet.

“Do you know what is in there, between the worlds?” asks Suzie, but she doesn’t wait for an answer. “Nothing. I think this is where we are. Between everything.”

“And?” he prompts, since he doesn’t know how else he could respond to that.

“If you can travel through this place, you can run away, too.” She looks at him sharply. “Run.”

 

(Inhale.)

 

“You’ve shown me the universe, and guess what, Jack? I found out it’s not beautiful.”

She sits cross-legged, so Jack sits opposite her.

“I never said it was.”

“Really? I was listening to your stories, you know? About the mists of Bale and the gardens of Chimeria.”

“The universe is a trashcan.”

Suzie hunches her shoulders and for the first time ever she looks unconfident, sad, naïve even, but then again, maybe it’s just an illusion — an echo, a shadow.

“Is there something beautiful at all?”

“Yes, there is.”

“Good.”

 

(Inhale.)

 

“Let’s summarise the facts.” Suzie raises her hand and starts to count on her fingers. “You sent me into the dark.” One. “Twice.” Two. “You sent all of us here.” Three. “And you’ve known what it’s like in here, so why did you do it?” Four; she makes a fist. “But you know what the funny thing is, Jack? Emily was right after all, we do grow accustomed to the Dark.”

Jack reaches out his hand to touch her, but Suzie just looks at him, slightly mockingly, he thinks.

“Oh Captain, my Captain,” she laughs. “You can’t touch a shadow.”

 

(Inhale.)

 

“Not that we weren’t ready for that, you know,” Ianto says once. He’s wearing the same suit he died in, there’s the same thin cut on his cheek, and Jack could swear he can smell coffee.

Ianto starts to appear at the same time when Suzie starts to disappear, and Jack can’t decide if it’s for better or for worse.

“What do you mean?”

“Given this whole tendency of Torchwood agents to die, come back from the dead and then elaborate on what they’ve seen? There wasn’t too much room for optimism left.”

Ianto steps back into the dark when Jack tries to touch him, so he doesn’t try it ever again.

 

(Inhale.)

 

“Please, find Stephen,” Jack asks one time.

“I don’t even know what he looks like,” Ianto says, maybe a little bit too indifferent for Jack’s liking.

 

(Inhale.)

 

Sometimes, when he’s alone, he stares into the dark or goes straight ahead, but the shadows never come closer, or maybe it’s him who doesn’t move. Sometimes he thinks he can recognise familiar silhouettes, so he calls them by their names, but the shadows ignore him, there’s only Ianto, just like there was only Suzie before him.

“They can’t see you,” Ianto explains on one occasion.

“But you can see me.”

Ianto just stares into the dark, focused on something right above his shoulder and Jack knows there’s no point in turning around.

“I could see Lisa, but she couldn’t see me.”

“I’m… sorry?” Jack says. The shadow-Ianto looks at him with black eyes.

“Suzie thinks it’s because we’ve known. She says that they’re still looking for their paradise. We just wanted to know what is moving in the dark.”

And Jack asks, even though he knows the answer already.

“And what is it?”

“It’s us, Jack. It’s only us.”


End file.
